Discrimination Against Ethnic/Minority Names
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No matter how many self-righteous managers and nurses might deny it, there is still plenty of discrimination against job hunters with ethnic names. All you have to do is Google to find plenty of... Read More

I've done lots of research on this when I first came to USA 9 years ago and it is true. Name discrimination occurs a lot during the inteview screening process with many jobs not just medicine and persons who are not minority would not have any idea about this, no matter how hard they try to understand it. I named my kids basic traditional names that does not hint to ethic origins, which is fine cause both my daughters are named after other relatives in our family anyways. Hopefully by the time they are grown, American would have grown up along with them and racism would be as extinct as the woolly mammoth.

@brandonlpn that's not a 'culture thing', that's a 'ghetto thing' lol. I completely agree with you though. When I had my son, I gave him a name that wouldn't tell his ethnic background. Sad but true. *shrugs shoulder* the point is racism will never end. I have been called the 'n' word so many times by people I have never met. Especially when I play xbox online with my husband. I can always expect to be called a 'ni***r' at least 3 times. Smh......

No disrespect to your hubby but I think that is part of the problem. Its almost like if as a race African Americans are being racist to themselves. Things like "thats my ni**r" and keeping it amoungst ourselves and our music as ok, then getting offended if say a white person calls us that is totally hyprocritical. I do not know of any other race that does this. do you?
We gotta respect ourselves as a people so we can be respected by others. Martin Luther must turn in his grave everytime he hear a young black educate male or female calling each other by that n - word. Well some Africans Americans are ok with it, for me, I don't tolerate it AT ALL. If one of my "buddies" call me a "n - word" I will punch him to hell and back. Anyways, one thing we have in common is I named my kids as same way as you did, whereas my wife wanted these traditional african american type name, in the end we agreed together to keep name neutral at the same time naming them after close relatives which was a plus.

A little off topic, but I don't get the appeal of "trendy" names like Madison or Dakota or Kaylee. These names won't be trendy forever. "Agnes" and "Reginald" were trendy names once upon a time. Now they are associated with being really, really old. Seventy years from now, Madison and Dakota will be associated with being old, too.

Ha, ha, ha Misstgo keep it 100! I was very intentional in choosing my son's name. No mid-name apostrophes, no random capital letters, and nothing ending in 'quon' for goodness sakes! As much as it pained me, I even went with a traditional spelling. Not as much fun, but for me, as a parent, it was the right thing to do. NO, it shouldn't have to be that way, but it IS and I'm not going to let my kid pay the price because I want to fight the system.

My married surname is identifiable as part of the religious minority in the US, and people are surprised when they meet me and I'm not what they expect. When completing applications I just go for it. I have found that the larger the organization the more diverse the work staff, the less discrimination. I know when you don't have a job, almost any job will do, but would you really want to work in culture where discrimination is tolerated?

Eh, at my last job I was basically the only white or non-foreign one there. I wouldn't have minded if they could all at least speak English since we had almost all white, US citizen patients.

I wanted to tell my NM that I can't actually take every patient who requested "that girl who speaks English" because then I'd have ALL the patients.

It was just frustrating. And I couldn't understand what they were trying to tell me in report. Sometimes they even called meds into the pharmacy to later have the pharmacy call me and say, this person can't have such and such 'cause they're allergic to that class of meds, and it was just something that sounded similar, not the right med.

Very scary.

I can appreciate if English is not your first language but we didn't have interpreters (it was a dumpy place, they didn't have anything necessary) and the patients couldn't understand the nurses and vice versa, so it was so awful.

And to the girl who said "If you're not African American you cannot comment on it"- You think African Americans are the only ones who get discriminated against? And you think African Americans don't do the same discriminating when I was the only non-African American in that job? Please get over yourself. Anyone who is different from the others in any environment is a target for discrimination.

Again, people who are NOT African American can not speak on it. They are not black and have not had our experiences with trying to prove that we are equal and just as good a nurse as our white counterparts.

Do you not even see the hypocrisy of this statement?? Do you really assume that there are no whites who live in areas where whites are the minority? Do you really think no whites have ever experience racism or discrimination based on the color of their skin? Don't you dare. I'm white. I'm neither proud nor ashamed of the color of my skin. But I have lived as a minority during two periods of my life, once where blacks were the majority, and once when hispanics were the majority. I have also experienced racism based on the color of my skin, sometimes escalating to the level of violence. So don't you ever accuse me of not understanding what it's like to be the recipient of racism, discrimination, or bigotry, because it's just not true.

I don't deny that racism exists, but I also don't think that the raw statistics can explain the true *extent* of the problem. I've not only experienced racism, I've also witnessed it from whites towards blacks (I spoke up and ruffled some white feathers by doing so) and from whites towards hispanics, and all sorts of other combinations. But I didn't see it only in the south. I saw it up north, too. It's not always white vs others, sometimes it's black vs hispanic, asian vs black, black vs white, hispanic vs asian, you name it, it's there. Whites do not have a monopoly on ill feelings towards other races, and blacks don't have a monopoly on being recipients of discrimination--lots of other races would be mighty insulted for you to pretend as if their plights are not as bad, not as important, not as relevant, etc. And you also can't dismiss half the world's population regardless of race: women. Remember that black men voted before white women. Black men have gained many such advances before white women. And women, much like minorities, also still experience discrimination. By saying that non-blacks can't speak on it, because they haven't had your experiences, is an ignorant and untrue statement. If you are a woman, you've been treated differently and likely discriminated against for not having a penis.

So yes, I *can* and *will* speak to issues of racism. I hate it. I hated being on the receiving end, and I hate to see it happen to someone else, and I will speak up about it both while it happens and after the fact in ways that I *hope* will make a difference, such as on this forum. And I sincerely hope that we can all work together to alleviate problems associated with racism. We can't make someone not be racist or sexist or ageist or any other -ist, but we can each do our part to make their impact less, to help create a culture within our communities and organizations where -isms are so despised that, even if you are secretly an -ist, you wouldn't dare admit it or even act on it. But we don't accomplish that by ostracizing based on race. That Is Part of the problem! You do it by speaking up *at the time* that the -ism is taking place. You see someone dissing an old person? Hopefully you have gotten to know them and can point out the ways that "old person" can run rings around all those dissing youngun's! You see someone taunting someone for being a typical whitey? Hopefully you have a relationship with that white person and can defend them to their taunters, and point out some of their impressive skills, hobbies, or some interesting tidbit from their past. You hear someone using a racial slur? Call them out, and make it clear that those sorts of words have no place in civilized society, and you won't just let it slide. Shame the person publicly--they likely won't use that word outside their own home again. They may not change their minds, but their minds are private, and not under your control. But you can help to minimize the negative impact of their words and actions on others.

I have to speak up here- as a white RN, I was hired for a position I wanted so very badly in a urban minority neighborhood in a public health clinic because it was with the medically underserved, uninsured and under insured, because it was with patient population, I knew from working in the hospitals for many years, how medically chronically complex they were- in other words- this was my "dream job" because of the challege, my belief in the health care reform and this was my chance to participate in that reform. i could forsee many things down the road for that nursing position and that clinic( the potential). I was told by HR it was a new position and to make it my own. I was met with such bullying, lack of respect, ignorance and down right insubordination, the refusal of even a good morning in the AM, the refusal of some staffers to even orient me- by not showing me anything, would not talk to me and even had 2 call out sick on the days they were to orient me. I was screamed at and put down in front of the patients, their families and other staff. My patients were from every minority one could think of and were very nice and receptive. Some would stand at the desk in line to speak to me as opposed to the staff who had been working there. I treated them with respect and dignity and tried to do the best I could for them and I know the patients recognized this as one eldely gentleman said to me- "ma'am you came through for me once, can you do it again( with reference to finaggleing him an appointment)". which if one tried hard enough it wasn't too difficult TO ACCOMPLISH. These patients were not treated with respect or even helped by their own. They were thought of undeserving and it showed in the staffs attitude toward them. These patients were also sicker than alot of patients in the hospital and certainly sicker than their insured and more well off counter parts( the staff)
I ended up leaving that position after a few short weeks of this treatment and what I saw done to these patients. I did not, however, leave without reporting the provable nursing regulation infractions to dept of health of which I received a very positive letter back from- the clinic was served with deficiencies!

I don't want to hear that discrimination only is toward minorities because I have seen and experienced it first hand - it is not. I have seen African Americans treat other African American who they percieve has being beneath them because they don't have insurance like dirt and deny them high quality health care- like a simple doctors appointment,I have seen the African American nurse talk to African American patients with disrespect and dishonesty. I have seen minority nurses treat minority patients poorly even though those minority patients are well dressed- one lady was dressed in a linen long skited out fit, she was on her way to work- a job that did not offer her health insurance and her earnings were too low for her to afford a policy out of pocket. I say an African american father accompaniy his chronically ill child to an appointment- he was a car mechanic again who could not afford insurance family plan monthy payments out of pocket and no health insurance benefits offered at the garage. No one was willing to accomodate the lady in the linen outfit for an appointment, no one was willing to inform the dad that the clinic offered free transportation to university medical services to specialists for his daughter.
And it might suprise everyone to know that alot of the patients I saw in this clinic were dressed in nursing scrubs- worked as home health aids!! no insurance. seeking care for their kids and themselves- including GYN visits.

I am very bitter about this and feel I have every right to be. This does not speak well of nursing!!!

Eh, at my last job I was basically the only white or non-foreign one there. I wouldn't have minded if they could all at least speak English since we had almost all white, US citizen patients.

I wanted to tell my NM that I can't actually take every patient who requested "that girl who speaks English" because then I'd have ALL the patients.

It was just frustrating. And I couldn't understand what they were trying to tell me in report. Sometimes they even called meds into the pharmacy to later have the pharmacy call me and say, this person can't have such and such 'cause they're allergic to that class of meds, and it was just something that sounded similar, not the right med.

Very scary.

I can appreciate if English is not your first language but we didn't have interpreters (it was a dumpy place, they didn't have anything necessary) and the patients couldn't understand the nurses and vice versa, so it was so awful.

Trying to figure out how this - non English Speaking Nurses- has any bearing on anyone's name.

BytheLake- Bravo- I am right there with you. I spoke up for an Asian male RN who was being bullyied by a group of mixed minority and gender identification (lesbian) nurses aids on a telemetry floor. The aids refused to assist him with his patient care- answer the call light of one of his patients while he went to the lab to pick up a unit of blood for a newly admitted GI bleed. 3 witnesses in the room( another white RN, an Indian RN, and a African American RN) and all afraid to speak up.

I was terminated- the ring leader lied about the event. I has made me think twice about sticking my neck out and standing up in these situations. What it all boils down to is: the nursing administration doesn't know how to handle these situations and would rather get rid of the person who bring them to their attention. They would rather the problem continue and keep ignoring it.
This insident I reported to the EEOC and the state dept of labor. 65 pages of a complaint. The EEOC investigators went up to the unit aqnd interviewed each staff person individually and a corrective action plan that had to be monitored and carried out by the nursing management for 3 years with EEOC oversight reporting.

Insidently, I did go to my manager when I saw the first insident- she did nothing. I went to the VP of Nursing with the second event- he did nothing. Where is the VP of nursing today- promoted to an ever higher position in another healthcare system- I saw his picture and write up, congrats to him, in the Nursing Spectrum. It is not to THEIR political advantage or career aspirations to intervene in these situations.!! he holds as he did then- 2 Master's degrees and a Phd, a fellowship and emergency nursing certif, and a health administration certification( RN,BSN,MSN,MHA,phD, CEN, CNHA FAAC)!!! It got me fired and unemployed for 8 months cleaned out my savings account - and bankruptcy.